Step 3: Postscript

This Instructible documents a tested method for breaking the kind of object that normally falls under the description “indestructible.” Something like the item pictured above, which was once a twelve-inch Wagner skillet and is now scrap metal.

Materials

One cast-iron frying pan (note: this method has not been tested on pans smaller than 12 inches)
A high kitchen ceiling (8-10 feet)
A distinct lack of foresight (or a good supply of foolish optimism – your choice)

Read on for five minutes or so of morbid amusement!

Step 1: Step One: Storage Decision

Because of a shortage of kitchen storage space for large objects, choose to keep your cast-iron frying pan on top of the kitchen cabinets, in that mostly-empty space below the ceiling. Obviously, this won’t be practicable if your kitchen ceiling is too low, or your cabinetry is topped by soffits. In that case, you’ll need to move to a more suitable house in order to follow these directions.

IMPORTANT: The cabinets should be high enough so that you have to stand on tiptoe and kind of push the frying pan up into its place. The handle will stick out, but that’s fine; nobody’s going to walk into it, and it’ll be easier to get hold of to take it down again.

On no account should you use your ingenuity to find a lower-down place to store the frying pan, such as in that handy drawer under the oven. It’s too much of a nuisance to have to stack several pans inside each other and remove one or two just to get out the bottom one.

Cast iron pots and pans is a valuable part of the American heritage, one should not belittle that at all. A welding fitter can easily mend your ill-fated pan by means of stainless steel welding rod. <br>Good luck. <br>

27 years old is too young to be part of the American heritage. <br>You can find true older pans (all black / no paint) in flea markets, garage sales, etc &hellip;&nbsp; <br>Moreover the pan showed is made of grey cast iron. Older pans had not paint and were made of black cast iron. More solid and truly American !&hellip;

<p>my skillet that broke like the one above was probably grey cast. I had two, one was a lot heavier. I gave it to a neighbor. The one I kept was lighter and easier to manage after the shoulder surgery. Big mistake!</p>

Now, I KNOW instructables isn't for spam(unless it's a Spam instructable) but I'll do a LITTLE advertising, to make a point. <br>http://www.lodgemfg.com/ <br>when the COMPANY has been making the same exact product since the1800's, I consider it to be a heritage item, even if it was made yesterday. <br> <br> <br>and PAINT on a cast iron pan? PAINT?!? Maybe a made-in-chine &quot;antique&quot; for wall display in a yuppy McMansion. But really, PAINT? I get a bit ill just at the thought of it. <br> <br> <br>Ok, just re-read that line in the 'ible. it's the 27 year old SEASONING on the pan. The pan itself MAY have been much older. 27 years is a fairly long time, in the lifespan of grease and oil. <br> <br>Black cast iron? Not sure I've ever even heard of THAT. Grey and WHITE cast iron, yes. Which alloying materials are used in the black cast iron you speak of? or is it mearly a mistaken case of &quot;Fifty Shades of Grey iron&quot;.

Sorry this may have been lost in translation ... <br>What we call in french &quot;grey&quot; and &quot;black&quot; cast iron may well be &quot;white&quot; and &quot;grey&quot; in english. My usual online dictionary is no help and as I have no time to make a proper research I must leave it at that ! Sorry. <br>Of course my comment was just that : a comment more than a response. I may be wrong and I am sorry if I am. <br>Now about &quot;paint&quot;. I understand that I should have used the word &quot;lacquer&quot;. But then again I'm not so sure it is the right word either. Anyway this should be understood quite easily by everybody as the orange color on the side of the pan says it clearly. <br>This shows that the pan is most probably post-war. As many pans that were cast in the 19th century are still in service (or they should, as cast iron has no lifetime, or nearly an endless lifetime, in such uses as cooking) I don't think that an orange lacquered cast iron pan can be considered as a valid heritage. <br>Myself I use a cast iron grill that goes bask to the late 20's or early 30's and it is still the best grill I ever used and it clearly shows it can last 50 years more : no wear, a loss of thickness, no rust on the underside&nbsp;&hellip;&nbsp;perfect ! I also have two old iron (not cast iron) frying pans that must be at least as old as I am (65, in three days :/ ) and I still use it them almost everyday the time. These tools are endless ! So maybe few people now possess a 27 years old cast iron pan, but this is due to the whims of fashion more than to the wear of the product ! Regarding the latter 27 years old is almost nothing !&hellip; <br>As for a company that belongs to the National Heritage I fully agree : it belongs to american culture if it was born as early as the late 19th century. But this cannot be said of all its products ! A vintage Bell telephone does belong to the National Heritage ; but I guess nobody would say that of the latest cell phone launched by Bell (which does not exist to my knowledge : I just made up the example to be clear). <br>Anyway, our discussion misses the most important point and we all should focus on it : <br>THIS INSTRUCTABLE IS EXCELLENT and we should all be thankfull to historylive <br> <br>historylive : THANK YOU, you made my day !!!! <br> <br>LOL

je vous pr&eacute;sente mes excuses <br> <br>Your english was good enough that I presumed you were a native speaker and meant the exact words you said. <br> <br>And total agreement. Cheers to historylive for producing such a wildly successful instructable and hosting such a lively debate. <br>

Waell &hellip; That is a compliment. <br>I don't know if I really deserve it&hellip; but it does make me happy !&hellip; <br> <br>Thank you !

Of course ! Now that you said it !&hellip; <br>What a fool I am &hellip;&nbsp; <br> <br>Again I really had a good time reading your inst' and although people here are quite open to humor I wish we could read more of your kind ! <br>Thanks again.

The new pan's a Lodge, as Wagner seems to have gone out of business, alas. <br>

PS. Cast iron cannot be welded, no matter what they say : the weld is merely a glue whereas true weldind makes one piece out of two.

wrong I haveone that was dropped and welded and I have watched my dad weld cast many times its all in knowing what you are doing and having the right equipement

ok, so funny story. <br>This one time at weld camp.... <br> <br>Seriously though, There is a LOT of confusion surrounding welders repairing cast iron. <br>Now, if you talk to a BLACKSMITH, that confusion should go away quickly. <br>And here's why. <br>The NICKLE rod(not stainless) that most cast iron &quot;weld&quot; repairs are done with actually created a BRAZE. just about any blacksmith should immediately tell you they would bronze braze your pot back together. <br>It's not really &quot;GLUE though, as you stated. Consider the practice more of a very high strength solder.for a cast iron pan like this, a proper braze would be as good, or better than the parent material. You could smash the repaired pan into tiny scrap pieces with a sledge hammer, and while the rest of the pan is turned to dust and chips, you'd still have a solid braze holding onto cast iron chips. <br> <br>I think the confusion usually comes from the fact that welders will use welding torches(electric and/or gas) to deposit the repair material. <br>&quot;If a welder is using welding rod in a mig welding machine, he MUST be welding, right?&quot; <br>Wrong. The repair LOOKS like a weld, the repair ACTS like a weld, but as vincent7520 says, it is not TECHNICALLY a weld.

I stand corrected. <br> <br>After consulting with my welding gurus... cast iron CAN indeed be welded. <br>At least SOME cast iron can be. <br> <br> <br>As it was explained, here's the issue. The nickel rod welding IS fusion welding, but it' a weak join(as far as welding goes). Then again, as we have seen, cast iron isn't the strongest stuff around to begin with. You have a weak brittle join between two pieces of weak brittle metal. <br> <br>Grey iron is the category of stuff that's almost impossible to weld. The graphite is the issue. Apparently, that also makes brazing fairly difficult. Stuff doesn't like sticking to carbon. <br> <br>White cast iron, is often the same as grey, except it cools much quicker after casting(like thin frying pans). This freezes the carbon in the iron, without letting it form graphite flakes. White iron is eminently weldable. also easily brazed. Then there's the third catagory, malleable(white iron that has been specially heat treated) and ductile cast iron(additional alloying elements to prevent graphite formation chemically). <br> <br>Unfortunately, almost all cookware is GREY iron, and therefore virtually unrepairable :-( <br> <br>So, I guess the best thing to do is, use the broken pan for something else, or bring it to your local art college, and have them re-cast it into something useful(provided you are near a school where they do iron pours). <br> <br>I think you should hang the pot up in the kitchen AS IS. <br>Tell anyone that asks &quot;That's a reminder of what happened to the last person to complain about the cooking&quot; <br> <br>As a last resort, grab some JBWeld, stick it back together, and out into the garden, like was initially suggested.

Huh, that's really interesting metallurgy info, ironsmiter! It's funny that graphite behaves like that, when you consider how chummy with other elements carbon tends to get down at the atomic level. But I guess that's also what makes graphite so useful for writing. :-)

... All of which means that it was probably cheaper for me to buy a new pan, at least until I get around to learning blacksmithing myself. <br> <br>Thanks for the info about the repair terms! :-)

<p>My cast iron skillet looks exactly like the one above. I had it on the dish drainer and accidently bumped the drainer. If fell to the floor and just snapped. I have to buy another one. I got that skillet in a wedding shower 46 years ago. It's my go to skillet for everything. </p>

<p>My mother liked to tell the story of when she and my dad were being restationed back to the US in 1952 from Japan. Unbeknownst to them the packers packed a packing barrel with their Noritake china and placed her 10&quot; cast iron fry pan on top of the dishes. When they unpacked at their new post in Virginia, the fry pan was in two pieces and not one piece of china was broken.</p>

<p>That's a really astounding story! Love it. :)</p>

<p>because of where the break occurred you can have it repaired &amp; keep using it (after all it has served you well for 27 years) </p>

<p>Wow are you lucky! As is the microwave :-). Funny story, sorry about the pan.</p>

<p>I was given two cast iron pans that were my grandmothers. I was told that one of them originally saw duty on a chuck wagon. They sat in the garage for years getting a little red with rust until I read up and learned how to clean them up and season them. They have now become my most cherished cooking items in the kitchen; I would absolutely die if something happened to these pans and not just because of the sentimental value! I'm rethinking how I stack my cast iron pans now in light of this destructible, er, instructable...</p>

<p>I *am* glad that so many people have found this item useful (as well as funny). It doesn't quite make up for losing the pan, but it's something! :)</p>

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/nothingbutcastironclassifieds/" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/groups/nothingbutcastironclassifieds/</a>&nbsp;You can replace your nice Wagner or Griswold or any other manufacturer you can think of right here.

I love the diagrams! Very funny :)

dont throw it away you can use a nickle rod heat the pan and reweld the piece back on then grind and polish to usable condition

For the follow up 'ible - what do you make out of a broken cast iron frying pan? ;-)

hand lapping plate?

&quot;repair&quot; the pan using superglue. <br>Record video of innocent people trying to cook with the pan. <br>Enter into april fool's instructables contest

Garden water feature, maybe? :-)

I have a pan that looks pretty much exactly like your 2-piece model (only in one piece). It too has 15 years of seasoning and I would be devastated to lose it. It will, henceforth, be stored below head-height, if not for its own safety then for mine! <br> <br>Thank you for a valuable lesson - and as they say - if you can't serve as an example then may at least serve as a warning to others! <br> <br>Ugi

Well, if even one person manages to avoid this kind of problem, then it was worth the effort of writing it up! You're welcome. :-)

It is a pity to lose this great kitchen tool, it is likely that a good welder can repair it.

I hear cast iron is difficult to weld, requiring a special welding rod. Still, even with that gap in the side it's usable as a griddle.

Bacon pan with built in grease drain you say?

Good Inst' ! <br>However you should have focused on how to miscalculate the pan&rsquo;s distance from the end of the cabinet. <br>How can I achieve that ?&hellip;

Sure one of the most useful indestructibles ever. Do you think it could be done without the microwave? Mine is collecting dust in the garage and I'd hate to have to take it back to the kitchen counter.

For the sake of the experiment it is worth the effort to dust it off and put it at the right spot on th kitchen counter.

My sympathies for your nice old pan, and thanks for a giggle (and a little instructive humor.) (Because I keep lots of stuff in that space on top of the cabinets. I will be taking a look at it all tomorrow to make sure nothing has the potential to reproduce your experimental conditions!)

Hey reminds me of the time I had a piece of Pyrex explode for no reason... Well there was that red hot burner that we say it on but...

Clever.......

hahahaha brilliant

ouch, and as a cast iron wok owner i feel for you, i have yet to get mine seasoned since i got it only last summer. does make good stirfry tho :)